No, you’re eyes aren’t deceiving you, this isn’t a question. This is a straight up answer to what we as a community need to do to get this at the main stage at EVO next year.

The answer lies in an article I wrote late last year. For those who don’t care to read it the point is this, what is going to put this game on the main stage at EVO is people - we need to grow this community even more. Face it, compared to the other games (MK, KOFXIII, etc.) the guys at Reverge don’t exactly have the resources to put out a large pot and/or promotion to draw players. This means that the game is going to have to rely on numbers to justify being at EVO. This means that it’s up to us players to help get those numbers. Sure, there are other factors that can help such as the upcoming patch and PC release (and also that Wiz has reportedly stated that he would liked to have seen SG as a main game at EVO this year, if not for the lack of a release date when they made the decisions). These however are only there for us to capitalize on in the drive to grow the community and get this to EVO. In the end, it’s still mostly up to us.

Wiz said on Wake SRK that they like to at least give a shot to some games. He said that when asked about SFxT being on the main line-up. I believe that numbers are important too, but to straight out start some kind of mobilization to give the game some exposure is already a start. Things like silly web content, video tutorials on characters, things like Max is doing with the Online Warrior thing. Tournament attendance is crucial, but community content is also important.

There’s a big thread asking for a new Darkstalkers game, why not start threads asking for Skullgirls to make part of tournament line-ups? We all now Season’s Beatings is comming, why not look on that? The EVO 2013 line up will be decided on early Jan. Wiz said already that they choose the line-up early in the year, so there’s still enough 2012 left to the community push the game on spotlight.

SFxT is not gonna die until the Capcom events are up, so WNF will not drop it, but why give up? Skullgirls need people going to tournaments but also people watching it, tournament choosing to put it on their line-up and content. We need thinks like “Street Fighter is Hard”, “The Online Warrior”, or even “Cross Counter” and “Excellent Adventures”. I watched the side tournament top8 and there was 1000 people watching with me online. Give this people something to watch beyond EVO.

Some opinions willfully ignored, my two cents:
-Striving for EVO next year is an incredibly, incredibly ambitious goal, which I totally respect but personally believe is us getting ahead of ourselves. I also believe the answer is an elephant in the room, and its always been there. In order to do so is deceptively simple “Get the people to come in droves for it”. We’ve always known that, but therein lies a major issue. 102 entrants is a respectable number for a game that came out months ago, but remains a fraction of even KoF’s turnout (This being it’s first EVO as a mainstage game, but has been floating the tournament for some time). Focusing on how to turn a 102 turnout into a 1200 turnout is more important than the game’s official status at EVO. Without the resources of a Capcom or an Atlus or Namco, without even a physical released, why are we expecting these astronomical numbers so soon? We gotta earn the fans, one at a time, and in my opinion, that’s gonna be a slow process.

I think SG is very good game,but not so popular.
In japan, SG comming is waited many many people.
If SG sell in Japan,SG will become popular in Japan.
and, I think SG will may take to put main stage if increacing player.

I guess the best bet is to aim at the PC crowd and get them to support this. Skullgirls is probably the first fighting game that got PC right: no GFWL, no DRM bullshit, and low price point (PC gamers are cheap).

Most people who play console fighting games don’t like innovation. They would rather have a TTT2 or a Darkstalkers 4 before any new and interesting IP. On PC, we see new mind-blowing indie games come out every month. Therefore, even if it might be a technical game with a high learning curve, PC players will give it a shot because they’re more inclined to try new stuff.

Reverge Labs need to make full use of Steamworks and make Skullgirls on PC the best version available (make full use of fast automatic patching, optimization features, etc).
If they do it right, they might succeed in an untapped market that can give us a surprise or two this coming EVO.

I think interest will increase as more characters are released. I’ve met many people who don’t like the game because of the 8 character roster, which also seems very ignorant to me. Some people are just like that

I mentioned this in the community building thread some time ago, but something that is being overlooked in this allegation that the game has no potential for growth beyond this point is that it is a new IP in a crowded market, and it does not have the decade of background that the established franchises have. If you took “Street Fighter” or “Marvel Vs. Capcom” out of either of those games and tried to market them on their own legs, the perception in the public eye would be much, much different. This is why I keep stressing that patience, and allowing time for updates and the evolution of the game, will be what ultimately brings in the audience. Having this be a known quantity more than a flavor of the week.

Yeah, I agree that its going to take time and patience. One thing is for certain is that getting all gloomy because it doesn’t happen over night can’t help and trying to change things can’t hurt.

Most people didn’t even know there would be a side tourny for this game until a few weeks before EVO. That’s the thing: it needs to be visible. I really do think that having more video content that gets put on the front pages of news is something that would help a lot. For some people that really the only way the get any information about whats going on with fighting games. I’ve been trying to come with some thing that could help out in my area…

I think this game does a fair job of welcoming new players my self. And I don’t remember it being advertised the most technical game around, which would be weird because its not true at all. Not even close.

I have to say the teams I saw being used at EVO are not what I thought they would be other than Painwheel/Peacock. Also I don’t think people get how much assist change a team, but thats another topic.

My question is how many casual players really show up to tournaments?

On Tekken: That game is harder to learn than Skullgirls. Competitively that is. Seriously, I expect a lot of people to drop it quick, especially because I don’t think that many peope are going to practicing the basics on Tekken 6 like they probably should. It will sell well though because Tekken always does. I’m a fan myself.

I know for a fact that Fanatiq is interested in this game. If StriderZero can get him and Knives hooked on the game, it may spread to the FGTV house. Then from there it could spread to the thousands of viewers that house has; if the there’s enough interest, hopefully weekly tournaments like Levelup on the WC and the break on the EC can start doing Skullgirls again; and hopefully that interest can build up to more SG at majors and finally EVO.

A miracle. Skullgirls is a really good game. The brightest person in the room doesn’t always get the job, and the nicest people in the world won’t always get what they ought to get. Paris Hilton is famous even if she has no talent. People buy a half-ass game that felt incomplete called SFxT, and Skullgirls will be a cult classic that will get ignored for literally superficial reasons.

Shout outs to the skullgirls community.

Just saying, sometime’s it’s just to give the rest of the world the finger. I really don’t buy this “it’s a hard game to learn” argument I’d explain, but I’d digress. I think that being really good at this game is definitely something to be proud of. Let’s assume that it’s the case that people don’t like hard games. Having 100 people to play the game is something to be proud of. Being good at a game with no BS mechanics is something to be proud of.

A tutorial mode, no matter how “robust” is not going to reel in casuals. Easy inputs are not going to pull them in either. That’s not what casuals want.

I don’t agree with all of Josh’s ideas, but I agree with this one. What casuals want is fun, not depth. SG offers a lot of fun, but you need to go through an extended learning period before you can start having it. To a casual player, it’s simply a matter of deciding whether you want to pick up a shooter or party game and start having fun immediately, or if you want to pick up a fighting game and spend three to six weeks learning it so that maybe you will have fun with it when the training period is over.

That’s why I think casuals are a lost cause. At best you can try to lure them in with nice graphics, funny references and cool animation. It’s much more realistic to try and get more FG players to pick it up. That’ll take a while, though. SG is a new game with new IP. FG players hate having to learn new games when they already know how to play older ones.

I guess what I’m saying here is that there is no easy way to grow the SG community. We just have to continue supporting it where we can and hopefully Reverge will continue to update it. Hopefully it’ll get released in Japan and make a splash there. I think having SG in EVO 2013 is very possible depending on how things play out.

I know for a fact that Fanatiq is interested in this game. If StriderZero can get him and Knives hooked on the game, it may spread to the FGTV house. Then from there it could spread to the thousands of viewers that house has; if the there’s enough interest, hopefully weekly tournaments like Levelup on the WC and the break on the EC can start doing Skullgirls again; and hopefully that interest can build up to more SG at majors and finally EVO.

This sort of thing can honestly help a lot. It would mean more coverage.
What needs to be done is more people need to produce content. And everybody who can’t record or stream something needs to just keep playing like they have been. If people see players having fun they may want to join in.

Also once I noticed it was said that SG should have been a smash style game I thought this thread might be getting trolled.

To a casual player, it’s simply a matter of deciding whether you want to pick up a shooter or party game and start having fun immediately,

I’m sorry, but I played my first COD (Black Ops) about a year ago since I got it for free, with almost no prior experience with shooters. I was the lowest scoring member of the team almost every match, with a kill to death count of something like 3 to 6 on average. And this persisted for like… I dunno, a long damn time over a course of weeks, covering at least 40 hours minimum of gameplay. And I came out of that experience, with an average ratio of like… 5 to 4. In other words, I still sucked.

Actually that wasn’t even the point I was trying to make. Man I’m tired. Basically, when I first started playing I played through most of story mode thinking it’ll get me more acquainted with the actual shooter gameplay. I killed practically nobody in a few online matches that followed and died a lot, so I went to practice how to aim better, went to learn the characteristics of the guns available to me, and then went back to online and continued to suck for some time.

Point being, this is no different than getting demolished online or by a CPU, going to training mode and getting more familiar with your character, and then going back online to get crushed.

If people have this magic formula for what constitutes “immediate fun” when you don’t know how to play something that does possess some level of depth, you better spell it out here. Because I’m not seeing it.

I don’t disagree, but this sentiment has always confused me. Why do people care what gender the character is? I’m sure dudes played games like tomb raider, blood rayne, whatever other games that force a female main character. In other fighting games there’s plenty of people who are happy to choose the female members of the cast, but with skullgirls it does get brought up a lot as a reason for not relating to the characters.

That’s why I think casuals are a lost cause. At best you can try to lure them in with nice graphics, funny references and cool animation. It’s much more realistic to try and get more FG players to pick it up. That’ll take a while, though. SG is a new game with new IP. FG players hate having to learn new games when they already know how to play older ones.

This an important point I think. Casuals are not what needs to be discussed. There is no way an indie fighting game what a very small marketing budget could have gotten waves of casuals to come in and play. That could never have been part of the equation.

The good news is that that also probably isn’t so important for what we want to happen. Casuals don’t go to tournaments. They do not want to compete and they often stop playing any game after a while. The only lesser skilled players that matter here are new tournament players, who are only going to keep improving anyway. Don’t get me wrong though of course some casual do convert when they like a game enough and more sales would have helped. I just don’t think its the end of the world though

There is a big difference between a casual player and a new competitive player. People don’t always see that, and when they don’t we get ridiculous ideas like x-factor.